Supporters of jailed Senegal mayor protest as immunity considered

DAKAR: Hundreds of supporters of high-profile Senegalese mayor Khalifa Sall called for his release on Saturday as prosecutors asked parliament to lift his immunity from prosecution on graft charges.

Dressed in items of red clothing, activists called for Dakar mayor Sall to be released after serving more than seven months in pretrial detention on what they say are politically-motivated embezzlement charges.

“Free Khalifa!” and “Khalifa until we die!” chanted around 300 people, many of them women and young people, after gathering a roundabout in the city’s Medina district.

Rappers dished out insults against Senegal’s President Macky Sall (no relation), and many sported t-shirts with Mayor Sall’s face accompanied by the phrase ‘Dafa doy’ or ‘that’s enough’ in the local Wolof language.

Mayor Sall was elected to serve in Senegal’s parliament in July, and his supporters argue he should be released on the grounds that he has the immunity provided to lawmakers, even though he campaigned and was elected while in jail. — AFP